Windows 10: Recycle bin on external hard drive is corrupted.

I have started to get a popup stating "The Recycle Bin on F:\ is corrupted. Do you want to empty the Recycle Bin for this drive?". Clicking on either option has seemingly no effect and the popup just reappears after a few seconds. This started immediately after I tried applying the security permissions for F:\ to all subfolders, so presumably this is what has caused the issue, but I can't find a way to reset the permissions to what they should be.I have seen this thread however the permissions-based solution did not fix the issue, while trying to execute the command rd /s /q F:\$Recycle.bin re

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Recycle bin corrupted (repeatedly) on external (encrypted) hard drive

I have a portable encrypted hard drive.

I use it on my Windows 10 Pro desktop PC (10.0.17134 Build 17134), a Windows 10 laptop (unsure of build as being used elsewhere by a colleague) and a Windows 7 laptop.

I have *no* problems on either laptop. No error messages - EVEN IF the desktop has reported an error.

On the Windows 10 Pro desktop, I frequently get a message telling me that the recycle bin on the hard drive is corrupted and asking if I want to empty it.

I have tried:

1. Saying "Yes" and emptying the hard drive.
2. Deleting the recycle bin ($recycle.bin) on all drives from Windows Explorer.
3. Opening an elevated command prompt and deleting the recycle bin from all drives using rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin (and repeating for drives D, E, F and G).

I have followed all the instructions in https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-recycle/7369e8dc-764e-4662-afea-3e4c96d3cf4f

This resolves the problem... for a day or two, if I'm lucky. Then it returns.

Something keeps corrupting it - and only on the desktop computer. No other drives on that computer have an issue reported with corrupt recycle bins.

Any suggestions?

 

Managing a recycle bin on an external drive

Hi,

Your external hard drive has its own recycle bin folder where the deleted files from it are stored. In order to delete those deleted files, we need to access first the recycle bin folder of the external hard drive. Follow these steps:

• Open File Explorer.
• At the top menu, click View.
• On the right pane, click Options > Change folder and search options.
• In the Folder options window, click the View tab.
• Under the Advanced settings, tick or select Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
• Uncheck Hide protected operating system files.
• Click Apply, then OK.

Once saved, try to access your external hard drive. Its recycle bin should now be visible. You may then open the recycle bin folder and delete the files inside it.

Let us know if you need further help.

Regards.

 

Recycle bin corrupted

I have a Western Digital external hard drive. It was assigned drive letter K: when I installed it. Recently, every time I start my computer (Windows 10), the following message pops up
"The recycle bin on drive K: is corrupted. Do you wish to empty the recycle bin?" Clicking on "Yes" or "No" makes the message go away but it reappears the next time I start the computer.

I use the external drive for back up and it seems to be working properly. There is no recycle bin on the external drive as far as I can tell. Emptying the recycle bin on drive C: did not help. I reinstalled the external drive but the annoying message still
appears each time I turn on or restart the computer. I tried a solution suggested for a question about this problem in 2015 but it did not correct the problem.

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